House Manderly
House Manderly of White Harbor is a noble family in the North whose seat is the New Castle in the city of White Harbor. They are among the most powerful and loyal vassals of House Stark as well as the richest northern family due to their control of the only city in the region. Unlike most other northern houses, the Manderlys follow the Faith of the Seven instead of the old gods, as the family emigrated from the Reach after the Andal invasion. The Manderlys' blazon is a white merman with dark green hair, beard and tail, carrying a black trident, over a blue-green field. Manderly guards wield tridents instead of spears. History Kingdom of the Reach The Manderlys are an ancient line who once lived along the banks of the mighty river Mander in the Kingdom of the Reach, and some claim the river was named after them. A noble house of great lords descended from the First Men, they held the castle of Dunstonbury as their seat and had a fierce rivalry with House Peake. During the reign of the Gardener kings in the Reach, King Gwayne III Gardener persuaded Lords Manderly and Peake to accept his judgment on their quarrel and do fealty for their lands, without any bloodshed. Like other houses of the Reach, the Manderlys presumably converted from the old gods of the First Men to the Faith of the Seven after the Gardeners welcomed Andals into their kingdom. Near the end of the long reign of King Garth X Gardener, a problem arose with the succession as the elderly and senile Garth had sired no sons and only daughters, one of whom had married Lord Manderly, and another to Lord Peake. Both lords were determined that their own wife should succeed to the throne, and the rivalry between them was marked by betrayal, conspiracy and murder, and finally escalated into open war with other lords joining the cause on both sides. The anarchy that followed lasted almost a decade until Ser Osmund Tyrell, the High Steward of Highgarden, made common cause with the other lords of the Reach and defeated the Peakes and Manderlys. Osmund then placed a distant cousin of the late Garth X on the throne as King Mern VI Gardener. Exile and White Harbor According to Lady Rohanne Webber, House Manderly left or were driven away from the Reach about a thousand years ago. Lord Godric Borrell refines the time period to "no more than nine hundred years ago", claiming the House had overreached itself and been repelled by the "green hands", a reference to the Gardener kings and their sigil. According to Maester Yandel, the exile of House Manderly is credited to Lord Lorimar Peake upon the behest of King Perceon III Gardener, who feared the Manderlys' growing influence and power in the Reach. This allowed House Peake to acquire the Manderlys' seat of Dunstonbury. Wylla Manderly proclaims that the Manderlys, sore and friendless and in peril of their lives, fled north and were protected and welcomed by the Starks of Winterfell as their own bannermen a thousand years before Aegon's Conquest. The Starks awarded the Wolf's Den to the Manderlys and tasked them with defending the White Knife in return for swearing an oath that they would always be loyal subjects of House Stark. This history instilled the Manderlys with great loyalty to their new liege lords. The city of White Harbor was built by the Manderlys with the wealth they had brought from the Reach and they developed it over the following centuries. It is the smallest of the five cities of Westeros, and is the main northern port for commerce and naval transport. The New Castle, built to replace the aging Wolf's Den, resembles their previous castle Dunstonbury in the Reach. The Manderlys are one of the few great houses of the north to follow the Faith of the Seven instead of the old gods and thus have a strong tradition of knighthood. Targaryen Era House Manderly enjoyed great relations to both their liege lords, the Starks, and their sovereigns, the Targaryens. Princess Viserra Targaryen, the wild and high-spirited daughter of King Jaehaerys I and Good Queen Alysanne, was betrothed to Lord Manderly, but she apparently died by falling from a horse while racing drunkenly through the streets of King's Landing. Lady Jeyne Manderly wed Rickon Stark, eldest son and supposed heir to Lord Cregan Stark and gave him two daughters, Serena and Sansa. Lady Myriame Manderly married Rodwell Stark and became Lady of Winterfell upon her husband's accession. House Manderly supported Rhaenys Targaryen in the Great Council of 101 AC at Harrenhal. During the Dance of the Dragons, Prince Jacaerys Velaryon traveled to White Harbor and Winterfell and convinced the north to join the blacks. Lord Manderly sent warriors led by his sons, Ser Medrick and Ser Torrhen, to support Rhaenyra Targaryen. Torrhen served as one of the regents of King Aegon III Targaryen after the war, resigning in 132 AC after the deaths of his father and brother from Winter Fever. When Aegon came of age in 136 AC, he ended the regency and dismissed the Hand of the King, Lord Manderly. War of the Three Stags When Robb Stark called his banner's in the name of his father, Ser Wylis, the heir of White Harbor, and Ser Wendel answered the call with the forces of White Harbor. At the Battle of the Whispering Wood, both of Lord Wyman's sons were present along with the Manderly forces, however, only Ser Wendel ever did much actual fighting. At the Battle of the Giants, Ser Wendel stood twenty paces from Smalljon Umber as he mauled the body of the Mountain in grief and he was one of the men who dragged him away from the battle. The Third Targaryen Rebellion The Frostborn were supplied with three Manderly commanders. Lord Wyllam Manderly who was near an age where fighting was no longer his strong suit, so he stayed in the reserve during most battles. His two sons, Ser Edmyle was among the fighting force while his brother Ser Waymer, though considerably younger, demanded to be in the vanguard where he fought until his last breath. During the fighting in the Riverlands, both sons of Lord Wyllam perished, something that stained Lord Manderly until the end of his short days, as he blamed himself for both of their deaths. Not long after returning from war, Lord Wyllam collapsed while on a walk around the castle. He never woke again. During the Rebellion, Torrhen Manderly spent all of his time defending Manderly ships as the Seven Kingdoms needed supplies from Essos even in war. He and the men he had assembled to guard the merchant ships of the Manderlys. Some men of the Merchant Guard were tasked with sailing along side the cargo ships while others patrolled the entire route from White Harbor to Braavos. Torrhen Manderly took a majority of the Manderly fleet with him to fight off the invasion in Dorne, as an answer to the call of Dorne. He joined Lord Redwyne, alongside Alyn and Beron Baratheon to smash the pirate fleet. Ser Torrhen commanded that every third ship is escorted south to help any of the lands that became undersupplied or ruined during the war. After the attack on Sunspear was repelled, Torrhen followed Lord Redwyne and the Master of Ships, Lord Velaryon, to attack the Myrish-Tyroshi fleet. The Merman's Fury took control over three Myrish ships alone while the rest of the Manderly fleet captured three-and-twenty ships but only sunk four. All of those who resisted were slaughtered while those who yielded were ransomed off after the war for whatever coppers they could. Torrhen continued to follow the Redwyne fleet alongside the Royal fleet but instead of attacking Stonedance, he moved on to remove any foothold the Myrish-Tyroshi fleet had there. After the Rebellion was over, Torrhen returned to White Harbor where he spent what would be Lord Wyllam's final days. Lord Torrhen Manderly was appointed the Master of Ships after the Third Targaryen Rebellion. Category:House Manderly Category:Houses from the North